2014

LIFESTATS

Quantification across

this nation.

Numbers are powerful little things. You can track trends for markets, finances, and sociological behaviors; you can also track what you did in a year in your life. At the start of 2014, this was one of my goals: an experiment in life quantification.

This was not a highly structured experiment; the goal was just to organically track different things that I did during the year. I picked the measured behaviors randomly, and the margin of error is probably significant. But for Year One of this experiment, I am satisfied with the results.

Some of the stats I picked turned out to play small parts in my 2014. Others ended up taking a much larger role. 2014, for me, was:

Books Read: ......................36

Miles Ran: ..........................464

Grocery Money Spent: ....$950

Scholarships Applied for: 13

Greek Socials: .....................4

Sporting Events: .................3

Outside Comfort Zone: .......58

Online Classes: ...................4

Working Saturdays: ............9

Planes Ridden: ....................14

Countries Seen: ...................3

Chinese Friends Made: .......13

New Cooking Dishes: ..........12

Worst Air: ..............................285 PPM (11/12, Shanghai)

The Analysis

As it turned out, 2014 was not a big year for socialization (sorry Greek Socials and Sporting Events), but it was big on pursuing out-of-class interests (Books Read and Online Classes for the win).

Also, it was a year of trying new things. After beginning to cook, I got on a roll and learned 12 new recipes in a year, subsequently dropping my yearly grocery bill to $950 (big shout out to China Walmart’s really low prices for making that one happen).

2014 also had its highs and lows with health. Even though training for a half-marathon was foiled by a stomach virus the week before, I logged 464 miles in the year. Great balance for being unable to run in China due to pollution, especially on November 12 when I sucked in 285 PPM air (that's masking-wearing weather, folks).

Finally, this was a year of travel—my biggest one yet. From eating ice cream in eastern Germany’s Erfurt to studying in Shanghai and flying in a glider plane in Inner Mongolia, I have officially been bitten by the travel bug (here’s to learning how to travel hack like a pro one day)!

Conclusion

These statistics aren’t earth shattering—they don’t reveal mind blowing insights about who I am as an individual, nor are they particularly interesting numbers. If everyone tracked their own numbers, mine would look similar to others.

What I do like about this is that it allows me to track behaviors. What did I spend 2014 doing? What were some of the big themes that showed up? Do I like/dislike those? What can I do in 2015 differently to address that?

I’m definitely doing this again for 2015. I won’t be tracking the same statistics—I’ll pick new ones as the behaviors pop up. It would be foolish to pick them all at the beginning. After all, who knows what this new year has in store for any of us?